The keys to Canelo Alvarez’s victory
The keys to Canelo Alvarez’s victory over Jaime Munguia were decisive in a fight that was determined by the tapatio’s form.
For many, the keys to Canelo Alvarez’s victory are based on the superiority of the red-haired fighter.
In a historic night for Mexican boxing, Saúl ‘Canelo’ Álvarez retained the title of undisputed 168-pound champion by defeating his compatriot Jaime Munguía by unanimous decision at the T-Mobile Arena in this city as part of the Cinco de Mayo celebrations.
It was not a fight that complicated Canelo Alvarez, and that is reflected in the ballots.
The three impartial referees Tim Cheatham, David Sutherland and Steve Weisfeld voted 117-110, 116-111 and 115-112, respectively, in favor of Canelo, who in this way increased his absolute record of successful defenses of undisputed championships (4).
The keys to Canelo Alvarez’s victory can be concentrated in a single term: Effectiveness.
Thus, one of the keys to Canelo Alvarez’s victory was the number of punches landed, 234 in total, a little less than half the number of punches thrown, which was 536.
At the outset, it must be said that Canelo Alvarez was always considered the overwhelming favorite, so it was not a surprise either.
The keys to Canelo Alvarez’s victory
Undoubtedly, as we have commented, one of the keys to the victory of Canelo Alvarez was the effectiveness with very accurate punches, the tapatío knocked Munguía down in the fourth round with a right uppercut.
From that point on, the fight was practically a monologue in favor of the champion, who put all his experience on the table to play with the young opponent.
“He’s a little slow; I can see every punch. Sometimes, he would catch me because he was too confident…. That’s why I’m the best… I’m the best fighter right now, no doubt,” Canelo Alvarez noted.
In spite of everything, Saul Alvarez started slow, as if reading what Jaime Munguia was bringing.
He withstood the punch and was not overwhelmed in the first three rounds. However, by the fourth round, he began to carburize in the middle and short distance, from the latter came the blow that made Munguía put his knee on the ground.
But from then on, he pounced with solid punches to the head and soft areas, to take Munguia down every time he tried a comeback.
With this win, Canelo also enters the rich and substantial history of Mexican boxing as the first fighter to win an undisputed championship contest between two Aztec fighters in the four-belt era (1988 onward).
His promoter, Oscar de La Hoya, who had engaged in a verbal dispute with Canelo prior to the fight, said at the press conference that this is just the beginning for Munguia and big things are coming for him.
Now Canelo, the 33-year-old fighter, improved his record against 12 undefeated fighters to 10-2-1.
It is worth mentioning that against Kazakhstan’s Gennadiy Golovkin he fought two fights while Golovkin kept the box of defeats unblemished, in the first he drew and won the second.
Undoubtedly, another key to the victory of Canelo Alvarez is that he knew how to move well inside the ring and that made him have distance against Munguia to connect the punches in a good way.
Other keys to Canelo Alvarez’s victory
But another key to Canelo Alvarez’s victory was his agility.
In the middle of the fight, Jaime Munguía had a slight reaction providing strong punches to ‘Canelo’ in the soft area.
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To his good fortune, the tapatío was quick in his movements and that allowed him to land harder punches than his opponent.
And finally, another key to Canelo Alvarez’s victory over Jaime Munguia was his opponent’s speed in the early rounds, but in the later rounds he showed a bit of fatigue and that was taken advantage of by Alvarez, who knew how to manage his time so as not to be exhausted in the final minutes of the fight.
